Poll: Heat vs. Celtics Series Predictions

[SparzWizard]

Was just on Youtube watching the recap of Games 4, 5, and 6 of last year's ECF.

Game 6 was amazingly crazy at the end. Old pal Marcus Smart jacking up that ATO 3 and then Derrick White with the series-tying putback leaving the Miami crowd stunned and in disbelief, forcing Game 7 after being down 0-3.

The C's need to make this personal with the Heat. And now they got newcomers Jrue and Porzingis to support.

It's a real shame that White game-winner has been forgotten because we lost the following Game 7.

I will say, I'm sort of hoping with Smart gone at least some of our bad habits will go away. Sorry but for all the winning plays and hustle he provided, he really did bone us in certain games as well. And don't forget, even the 2022 ECF Game 7 when he was bricking every shot and allowed MIA to almost complete the comeback if Butler hit that 3. If he did, Smart would have become enemy #1 and run out of town that same offseason lol. And lets face it, last year he fell off defensively and was far from his 2022 DPOY-self. This team doesn't have an ego and guys are more locked into their roles which is nice. Smart is an awesome role player, not a "Big 3 with the Jays" member like he thought he became here.

Yup exactly. Esp his defensive mindset. After winning DPOY it's like "ok I won my award time to snooze"...that mentality plus the atrocious 3s he takes help doomed us. Glad we let him go

[SHAQATTACK]

Don’t let Herro have 40 .

Put Holiday on him .

[mobilija]

Broom it

When Moranis says sweep we're cookin' 

(unless he meant Miami)

Uggghhh…..From the same lips as “Celtics in 5” vs Warriors…doomsday.

I bought and fell hard on that one. Still mad at you Moranis.

[perks-a-beast]

Remember in 2008 when we all thought the celtics would pulverize the Hawks given how dominant they were in the regular season? Yeah, this reminds me of that. Add the fact the Heat love being underdogs and Spoelstra is a basketball wizard. This things going 6 or 7, probably 7.

Let's just hope Caleb Martin doesn't transform in to prime KD again.

[SparzWizard]

"We want Boston" chants...make sure the Celtics give the Heat first-class tickets to Cancun 

[Moranis]

Broom it

When Moranis says sweep we're cookin' 

(unless he meant Miami)

Uggghhh…..From the same lips as “Celtics in 5” vs Warriors…doomsday.

I bought and fell hard on that one. Still mad at you Moranis.

Yeah that was a disappointing series.

[celticinorlando]

Can't let Herro get comfortable. White, Holiday, Brown and PP all need to make his life very tough. If you neutralize Herro and make him take tough shots, the Heat are in trouble.

[Vermont Green]

Can't let Herro get comfortable. White, Holiday, Brown and PP all need to make his life very tough. If you neutralize Herro and make him take tough shots, the Heat are in trouble.

Everyone please remember that last season in the ECF series, the Celtics shot 30% from 3 over the 7 games.  Tyler Herro is not going to beat us.  Only the Celtics can beat the Celtics in this series.  We don't have to rely as much on the 3 as we did last season, but we still do.  Heavy reliance on the 3 introduces more variability.  You can live with one game shooting 30% but not a whole series.

[A Future of Stevens]

I'd love the Celtics to come out swinging today. After all those weeks of rest, and taking their foot off the gas, put the league on notice.

[Celtics2021]

Can't let Herro get comfortable. White, Holiday, Brown and PP all need to make his life very tough. If you neutralize Herro and make him take tough shots, the Heat are in trouble.

Everyone please remember that last season in the ECF series, the Celtics shot 30% from 3 over the 7 games.  Tyler Herro is not going to beat us.  Only the Celtics can beat the Celtics in this series.  We don't have to rely as much on the 3 as we did last season, but we still do.  Heavy reliance on the 3 introduces more variability.  You can live with one game shooting 30% but not a whole series.

Does heavy reliance on the 3 actually introduce more variability?  Aren’t you more likely to shoot your average 3-point percentage if you take 50 threes instead of 25, if you assume they’re of the same aggregate quality?  Just a thought.

[mef730]

Celtics in 7. It’s the Heat.

I’m on record from a month or two ago saying that we would have the Heat in the first round, because the basketball deities like to screw with us. They will continue to screw with us throughout the series, but Miami’s fans, both of them, jinxed themselves with the “We want Boston” chant. Karma, it’s not just a Taylor Seift song anymore.

[scaryjerry]

Going with the sweep. I think they remember last year’s series and pull their heads out of their butts this year and close this one out quickly, especially with no Jimmy.

And lol at people actually choosing the Heat.

Who is actually picking the Heat besides Twitter trolls? Even with Butler they aren’t the same team, and the Celtics are seemingly better with one of the most dominant regular-seasons ever.

I think the Celtics should win in 4 or 5 but in what world with a healthy jimmy were the Heat “not the same team” ..they finished the season slightly better overall then they did last season. They were largely the same team.

[Phantom255x]

Whoever voted Heat in 4, you're wrong 

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

celtics in 4

[Muzzy66]

If the heat were healthy, then I would actually be a little bit worried.

Adding Rozier was IMHO a highly underrated move for Miami.  It gives them a 4th guy on the roster who can go for 30 on any given night.  Rozier is also a bit of a mini-Butler in that:

• He's a high energy guy who will give 110% effort every single
• He's a tough dude who isn't afraid of anybody
• He's got a history of making huge clutch plays on both ends of the court

Having Butler, Bam, Rozier and Herro would make the Heat a bit of a handful, even for a team as deep as the Celtics.

But...it looks like Miami will almost certainly be without either Butler or Rozier for the entire 1st round, and without those two guys they really don't have any hope at all against a team as deep as this Celtics squad.  Without Butler and Rozier the Heat really shouldn't even be in the playoffs, they probably should have just let Chicago win - this Miami team just isn't playoff worthy. 

The Celtics have a history of playing down to the competition over the years, albeit for the most part this year the Celtics have been annihilating bad teams, even when they have had one or two key players out.  With a healthy squad and every one playing I'd be shocked (and very disappointed) if the Heat win a game in this series.

I'm calling a 4 game sweep, with an average win margin in the 10-15 point range.